


Fill The Void In My Heart

by OmegaJay



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Teacher Thomas, eventual Minho/Thomas, everybody is more mature because of adulthood, single dad Minho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-19 06:12:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7348294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmegaJay/pseuds/OmegaJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minho's heart couldn't let go of his wife who passed away two years back. An emptiness exists inside Minho as he raised Kira, his daughter single-handledly with the help and support from his friends. But nothing seems to be able to fill that void inside of Minho. Cue Kira's class teacher, Mr. Murphy. Will there be a spark between them? Or will Minho let the void consume him for eternal life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back!  
> As y'all know I usually write oneshots and threeshot at max, but this time, I'm bringing you my first ever multichapter!  
> Beware this is going to be very long ride, hope y'all can support me all the way :D

_Her dark hair as smooth as silk, covering half of her face but her smile was still visible. Her beautiful, cheerful smile directed at him and no one else, and it was enough to make him feel like the luckiest man on earth. Her long white dress danced along with the flow of the wind, she spun around with a grace of a swan._

_“ **Catch me if you can** ,” she spoke in Korean as she tilted her head towards him, a teasing smile could be seen on her face before she gracefully sprinted away from him._

_He smiled brightly, taking off to chase after her. “ **Wait for me!** ” he shouted after her with his mother tongue too. He heard her answering giggle as he continued to run after her. “ **Slow down!** ” he panted in exhaustion but their distance only seemed to be further and further, he watched as her silhouette drifted further away from him._

_“ **Wake up, Minho…** ” her feminine voice echoed around him even though her shadow could hardly be seen from how far they were apart._

_“ **Huh?** ”_

_“ **Wake up…** ”_

Minho blinked his eyes open. Alarm blared from the bedside table.

 _Click!_ He turned off the alarm.

Minho sat up on his bed, hands covering his face as he let out sigh. Another dream about her. He glanced at the empty spot next to him on the king sized bed, he let his hand slide over the unused pillow, a sad smile tugged his lips. The ring on his finger caught the dim light from the morning sun.

Kicking his sheets off him, he planted his feet on his floor, stretching himself as he groaned satisfyingly at the cracked joints. He looked around at his bedroom, painted in light blue, her favorite color. The bed was in the middle of the room, against a side of the wall. He walked himself to the windows on the left side of the bed, opening up the curtains to allow more sunlight to pour in the room. Shuffling his feet to the other side of room where the door was, walking past a bathroom and a clothing cabinet on the opposite side of the bed, he exited to the corridor. Taking a few steps, he reached another door.

Knocking on the door twice, he opened it to another bedroom, “Kira?” he called out, voice still croaky from just being awake. The room was painted light pink, a few plushies sat slumped on top of cabinets, storybooks lined perfectly on a miniature bookshelf just beside the single bed in the middle of the room. Sunshine illuminated the room in a soft glow through the white curtains. Soft snores could be heard from a lump under the blanket on the bed.

Walking himself towards the bed, he pulled the blanket off, revealing a young girl around the age of 6 with long messy black hair splatted across her pillow, pink lips and a cute button nose. A close replicate of her late mother.

“ _Kira, wake up,_ ” Minho sat on the bed and shook the snoring young girl, speaking their mother tongue.

Kira started to stir awake, hands reached up to rub weakly at her eyes and slowly the eyes opened to reveal midnight black eyes, inherited from her parents. “ _Morning, father_ ,” she mumbled as she sat up on her bed.

“Good morning, Kira,” Minho switched back to the language where it was commonly used at the city they’re at, New Orleans, Louisiana. “I’ll go make breakfast, get yourself ready,” Minho pecked his sleepy daughter’s forehead.

Kira bobbed her head in acknowledgement, yawning as she continued to rub her eyes. Minho smiled as he ruffled up the already very messy bed hair of his daughter. Minho stood up and walked out the door then closed it. He waited two seconds before opening it once more. “Kira,” he called out at his daughter who was back to lying on the bed.

“Alright, alright,” Kira pouted as she sat up once more on her bed.

Minho grinned, “Don’t be late for school~” he warned with a singsong tone. He could hear a groan from Kira as he closed the door, chuckling as he went to the kitchen. __

* * *

“Seatbelts?” Minho adjusted the rearview mirror, looking at his own reflection for a millisecond. An Asian male in his 30’s, his hair gelled up to a stylish Mohawk, strong jawlines and olive complexions made up his feature, a pair of midnight eyes staring back at himself.

 _Click!_ “Done!” Kira chirped next to him.

“Alright, _let’s go_ ,” Minho pushed the stick to ‘Drive’ and he drove his car out of the basement carpark of their apartment building into the usual morning traffic.

Kira poked her tongue out as she tuned the radio, searching for radio station to listen to.

Minho surveyed the sky, it just turned light blue as the sun has rose from the hidings behind the mountains. It was a beautiful day indeed as an adequate amount of clouds could be seen dotting the blue sky in white.

Suddenly Minho recalled something, “Hey,” he called out to Kira.

“Yes, Papa?” Kira turned her head, facing her father.

“The parent-teacher conference is tomorrow right?”

“Yeah!”

“Will I get any bad news from your teachers?” Minho raised his brows expectantly at Kira.

“You won’t, Papa,” Kira grinned cheerfully, “I promise.”

“Uh huh…” Minho nodded slowly, “so first grade is not hard right?”

“Nope,” Kira popped ‘p’ in a cheerful tone.”

“So, who’re your teachers?”

“Well…” Kira thought for a second, “Papa will be talking to my class teacher only.”

“Is she nice?” Minho rested his elbow on the base of the window, as he held his head up with his cheek against his fist, one hand casually steering the wheel in the slow traffic.

“His name is Mr. Murphy,” Kira suddenly smile, as if talking about an idol of hers, “he’s pretty nice, he can be strict sometimes but he’s very friendly.” Kira paused for a second, “ _I like him_ ,” she added as an afterthought in Korean.

“Oh…” Minho pictured a man in his 50’s standing in front of a classroom with his daughter in it, waving his hands around in a strict yet gentle tone as he lectured.

The rest of the ride was uneventful as Kira hummed along to some mainstream tunes played by the radio DJ. And soon they reached Kira’s elementary school, Glade Elementary.

Pushing the stick to ‘Neutral’ and pulling the breaks, Minho rested his arm against Kira’s chair as he leaned over slightly. “I’ll see you tonight, baby girl,” Minho kissed the top of Kira’s hair.

“Bye, Papa!” Kira opened the car door and hopped off the Toyota, the keychain of an anime character jolted along on her backpack.

Minho gave one last wave as Kira closed the door. Driving away from the school, keeping an eye on the reflection of his daughter in his rearview mirror, watching as she greeted a brown-haired adult who was on his way into the school too.

* * *

The clock struck 5.30 in the afternoon, he watched as his employees clocked out, some of them waved goodbye at him while muttering a polite “Good bye, boss.” He typed frantically on his keyboard to finish up the report before submitting to the headquarters.

Clicking the ‘Send’ button, Minho removed his spectacles and massaged the corner of his eyes. He took a glance outside of his window, relaxing his eyes with the bird’s-eye view of the city instead of the screen full of letters and numbers.

Sweeping his glance across the office, most of his employees already left to go back to their respective homes and families, only a few left working overtime to either earn more income or rather stay at the office instead of facing the reality of the outside world.

Minho packed his stuff up into his laptop bag, getting ready of himself to leave his workplace too. His secretary, Brenda, went into the lift with him, a policy set by the headquarters that the secretary couldn’t be dismissed before the Division Manager leave.

“Seems to be an uneventful day, Mr. Park,” Brenda sparked a conversation as the lift descended.

“Yeah,” Minho smiled.

“So any plans for your weekend, sir?” she asked curiously.

“Not really, just a parent-teacher conference at my daughter’s school.”

As if the topic spark a thought in her mind, “I really look up to you, sir,” she confessed.

“Oh, why is that?” Minho raised his brow at his secretary.

“You are able to handle a division of the company while also acting as a single dad,” she explained, “that’s must be pretty hard to handle sometimes.”

Minho nodded, “Yeah, it is…”

The elevator let out a ‘ding’ indicating that they have reached their floor.

“Enjoy your weekend, Brenda,” Minho gave Brenda a friendly smile as he patted on her back slightly.

“Thank you, Mr. Park.”

* * *

Minho drove back to the apartment building. Instead of going to the floor he lived in, he took the lift the fifth floor. He casually hummed a tune as he walked down the corridor until he reached the destination.

Minho pressed the doorbell with the hand that wasn’t holding his laptop bag.

Footsteps stomped towards the door where Minho was waiting. The door unlocked and revealed a blonde almost as tall as Minho himself.

“Minho,” the blonde greeted.

“Newt,” he nodded, “where’s Kira?”

Newt’s and Alby’s son went to the same school as Kira, so they helped pick Kira and took care of her every afternoon when Minho was working. Three of them went far back to their university years alongside Minho’s girlfriend, then wife.

“Oh, you’re having dinner with us today,” Newt grinned, “in fact we’re all waiting for you.”

“Huh,” being friends so long, Minho practically made himself feel right at home by casually stepping into the apartment as if it was his own, “what’s the occasion?” Minho asked as he placed his bag on the sofa he walked past.

“ _Father!_ ” Kira greeted in Korean. She was playing the game console with Mason. _Mario Kart_. Minho’s mind provided. The sudden lapse of attention sent Kira’s character into the wall and Mason’s character drove pass Kira’s, earning first place. “Yes!” Mason shouted in victory, hands pumped into the air.

“Hey Uncle Minho!” Mason turned around to greet Minho, next to a pouting Kira who lost the game. Mason had a tan complexion just like Alby, wide curious eyes sparkling behind a pair of dorky square spectacles, he had Newt’s nose and lips too. It was a miracle how much Mason looked like Newt and Alby at the same time despite being adopted.

“Hey Mason.”

“Well, no occasion actually,” Newt walked next to Minho after closing the front door, “Kira, Mason, dinner time.”

“Huh…”

“Alby!” Newt shouted into the corridor towards the bedrooms and bathroom.

“Coming!” Alby’s deep voice echoed the corridor.

Newt and Minho headed towards the dining area trailing behind two hyperactive kids. Minho sat next Kira while Newt and Mason sat on the opposite. Footsteps stomped behind Minho and he turned his head around to greet Alby, “Yo, Alby.”

“Minho, nice to see ya,” Alby took his seat next to his husband.

“Well,” Newt gave a sheepish grin, “there’s a reason for this dinner though.” Newt stood up and went to the oven, grabbing something Minho couldn’t see. Then Newt turned around revealing this big chunk of ribs.

“I found this new recipe online, and I want you and Kira to try it,” Newt carefully set the meat down in the middle of the table next to a bunch of other smaller sized dishes, salads, pastas and a few finger-sized food.

“Wow, Newt,” Minho was impressed, he rolled up his sleeves in preparation to dig in, “you really outdone yourself today,” he surveyed the ribs, set in a small pool of its dark juice, glistening in the shine of the light, savory scent wafted up in his nostrils.

“Well, everyone, dig in!”

Minho cut a small piece of the ribs, making sure the skin, fat and meat were proportional before biting it off his fork. Sweet, smoky flavor grazed his taste bud as he moaned in delight. Alby too took a bite of his own as the reaction was similar.

“So? So?” Newt switched his glances between Alby and Minho excitedly.

“This,” Minho pointed at the ribs with his fork, “is very, _very_ good.” Alby frantically nodded his head in agreement because he haven’t swallow.

“Really?” Newt’s eyes sparkled with wonder as he cut a piece of the meat and taste it himself, “Oh…” Newt let out a large breathe, “oh wow…”

“Great job, Newt!” Minho gave a thumbs up, before cutting a piece for Kira to try.

The dinner was full of laughter as they exchanged cheesy jokes that Kira and Mason didn’t understand.

As an exchange for a free meal, Minho volunteered to help Newt with the dish washing duty. Kira went back to racing Mario Kart with Mason while waiting for her dad. Newt rubbed the plate with a sponge, making squeaky voices as he did, while Minho rubbed the plates and utensils dry before arranging them back onto the racks.

Newt side-glanced at Minho’s hands for a second, “So…” he started.

Minho hummed in acknowledgement.

“Still wearing the ring huh?” Newt took on a casual tone to not seem too intrigued, but suddenly a heavy tension filled the air prickling at their skin.

After placing the plate on the rack, Minho raised his left hand slightly higher, glimmering in kitchen light. “Yeah…” it wasn’t the first time this topic was brought up by Newt. He knew Newt was just trying to help, but this was a deep scar in him that just latched onto him.

Newt sighed as he passed another plate to Minho, grabbing another from the sink to rub, “I know this is hard for you mate, it is for all of us,” Newt bit his bottom lip unsurely before he continued, “but she’s gone man…”

Minho’s breathe hitched, “I know, Newt,” he sighed as he placed the dry plate on the rack.

“You gotta let her go someday mate,” Newt struggled to deliver the message, but it must be said.

Minho sent Newt a small smile, “I’ll try.”

It was an empty promise, and Newt knew that, but he didn’t comment any further so Minho’s heart wouldn’t be torn again just like two years ago.

“So, what are you expecting from tomorrow’s parent-teacher conference?” Minho grinned, the suddenly the atmosphere became cheerful once more at the change of topic.

With a roll of Newt’s eyes, he proceeded to rant about Mason’s poor performance at his sports and how he never showed interest in anything that would make him sweat, and Minho just laughed along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll see ya when I see ya!  
> Leave a comment if ya like!
> 
> Ciao!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drum rolls*
> 
> HELLO THOMAS!!!
> 
> Enjoy :3

Rows of chair lined up both sides of the corridor outside the classrooms. Chattering filled the air as families waited for their turn to have their talk with the teacher of their children. Families came and left walking along the corridors. Topics of talks all revolving around their children’s being at school.

Minho sat with Newt and Alby while Mason and Kira sat next to them playing their parents’ phone. “I have a good feeling that Mr. Murphy is going to compliment Kira,” Minho crossed his arms confidently across his chest.

“What makes you say that?” Alby’s face deadpanned in disbelief.

“I have faith in my daughter,” Minho grinned as he watched a pair of parents scolding their son at the corner of the corridor. “Well, Kira said that the teacher’s nice, and I raised her well,” Minho explained with an air of cockiness.

Newt snorted, already used to this side of Minho, “We’ll see.”

The classroom door and a family walked out looking extremely happy as they continued to compliment their daughter. “Guess this is us then,” Newt muttered as he stood up.

“Good luck!” Minho waved as Newt, Alby, and Mason entered the classroom, closing the door with a ‘click’.

Kira scooted herself over to sit next to her father, “ _I’m nervous, Papa,_ ” she admitted as she gave back the phone to her father as she pouted slightly.

“ _Everything is going to be fine, Kira,_ ” Minho smiled as he patted Kira’s head comfortably, “ _you said that Murphy-sensei is nice, isn’t it?_ ”

“ _Yes but_ —”

“Then you’re going to be fine,” Minho pulled Kira in to peck her on her forehead.

Kira sighed and nodded. “Good girl,” Minho muttered into her hair.

Approximately five minutes later, the trio who entered last came out. Alby looked quite proud, Newt had a grimace on his face while Mason sheepishly scratched the back of his head. Minho and Kira stood up and walked over to them.

“What happened?” Minho asked.

Alby was about to reply when Newt stopped him “Don’t ask,” Newt said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, alright then,” Minho grinned as Alby tried to calm Newt down who was crossing his arms defensively.

Minho and Kira walked in the classroom, barely hearing Alby talking something about a girl and a poem to an unimpressed Newt. The entrance was at the back of the class, so from afar Minho could see a brunette sitting at the teacher’s table at the front of the classroom.

 _Wow, he’s young_. Minho thought, he was expecting Kira’s teacher to be much older, not someone around his age. As the father and the child approach Mr. Murphy, Mr. Murphy had his hands crossed and rested on the table, a friendly smile directed at them. The smile was quite a pleasant sight. Then Minho remembered him when he dropped Kira at school yesterday.

Minho and Kira took their seats opposite the teacher with the teacher’s table between them. Sunlight shone outside the window brightened up the teacher’s feature. Mr. Murphy looked a year or two younger than Minho, his brown hair fell into a bang cover more than half of his forehead, he had a sharp nose, and a pink thin lips. Minho could see a friendly glint inside the brown eyes as the eyes were directed at Minho and Kira, the sunlight bringing out the darker iris inside those eyes. Some part inside of Minho thought the teacher’s eyes represented a doe.

“Hello, Kira,” Mr. Murphy greeted.

“Hi, Mr. Murphy!” Kira chirped.

Then Mr. Murphy turned his head to Minho, bowing slightly, “Mr. Park, I’m Kira’s class teacher, Thomas Murphy,” he held one hand up for Minho to shake, smiling as he did so.

Minho shook Mr. Murphy’s hand, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Murphy.”

As Mr. Murphy flipped through a stack of files beside him, “So where’s Mrs. Park?” he asked nonchalantly.

Minho tensed, just as Kira did too, “She’s… uhm…” he stammered, “not _around_ anymore.” Minho made sure to add a serious tone in the sentence. That caused Mr. Murphy to lift his head up with an apologetic expression and a frown of his face, probably feeling ashamed of himself for asking that question, “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine,” Minho raised his palm to reassure the teacher, even though it still stung a bit.

“But that explains that…” Mr. Murphy muttered his breath as he pulled out Kira’s file.

“Explains what…?” Minho asked.

“We’ll get to that later,” the brunette stared at Minho with an emphatic expression before sweeping a glance at Kira.

“So, here’s what are we gonna do,” the teacher turned to a more of robotic tone as if explaining a procedure, “we’re gonna talk about Kira’s academic performance and attitude when she’s in school under our observation, then you,” gesturing at Minho, “and I are going to have a private chat.”

Minho and Kira nodded their heads in sync, causing Mr. Murphy to puff out a small laugh. “Gotta say, you look like a great father,” Mr. Murphy said earnestly.

Minho raised his brows at that assumption, already formed a great impression of the teacher. Polite, easy-going, happy-go-lucky, and most importantly Kira liked him. Unconsciously Minho matched the teacher’s personality with his late wife. It was a sudden weird thought that he shrugged off.

“He is!” Kira chirped beside him, proud that someone agreed with her as she had a grin on her face.

“Nah… I’m not,” Minho scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face.

The teacher cleared his throat as he flipped open Kira’s file, “Let’s begin, shall we?”

Another in sync nods from Minho and Kira, and the smile on the teacher’s face widened, Minho found out that he liked to see that smile. The teacher turned the file towards Minho for the father to read the details on the file. “As you can see, your daughter is performing excellently in her studies, especially Math, Writing, and Reading. She is one of our top students in first grade.”

A proud smile hung on Minho's face as he read and listened to Mr. Murphy’s explanation.

“Her Science and Social Studies still can be improved in my opinion, but at her current state, she can easily score a high mark by the end of the semester,” the teacher used his pen to point at the grades of Science and Social Studies, which are both B’s. Minho nodded his head as he continued to listen attentively, he swept a glance at his daughter who was squirming in giddiness.

“Do you mind if I ask if Kira is of Korean descendant, assuming from her surname?” the teacher asked politely.

“Yeah, we’re Korean, I migrated here from South Korea when I was younger,” Minho answered, not minding him being of a different heritage.

“I see, I see,” Mr. Murphy nodded his head, before he turned his head to Kira as he asked with a playful grin on his face, “so, Kira, do you speak Korean?”

“Yeap! Papa taught me,” Kira let out a giggle after the answer.

“Mr. Park,” the teacher switched his glance back to Minho, “I might say you have a wonderful daughter right there,” he said with full honesty. “Able to learn both English and Korean at such young age, I hope you’re proud of her.”

“I am proud of her,” Minho said as he caressed the back of Kira’s head, “I’m so proud of you, baby girl.”

“Thanks, Papa!” she giggled once more, this time into her sleeve as hints of red tint filled her cheeks.

“So…” the teacher flipped a few more pages to the disciplinary page, “your daughter also does not have any problem here at school. Clean slate.” He gestured at the pretty clean page, “We’re actually quite lucky to have her here, she is such a good influence to her friends.”

Minho did not think how more proud he could be for his daughter, his Kira, as he continued to listen to Mr. Murphy describe how well of a student Kira was at school, until Kira was starting to feel shy as she covered her red face.

“Well now, Kira, could you excuse us for a moment, and wait at the back of the classroom?” Mr. Murphy politely requested. Minho thought that the teacher was very good at his job despite being very young. Usually people would get pretty grumpy after dealing with a lot of kids, but the teacher showed no signs of his grumpiness. Instead a smile was always plastered on the quite good looking teacher, in fact the smile made the brunette that much more attractive in Minho’s opinion.

“Sure, Mr. Murphy!” she chirped before bouncing off to the back of the class.

The brunette made sure Kira was far enough before directing his gaze back onto the father. “So, Mr. Park, I want to apologize once more for question earlier, because I know how it feels to lose someone very close to you,” and with that the smile turned into a saddened one as his brows become slight knitted, eyes slightly unfocused as if looking into a past.

“It’s really fine, Mr. Murphy…” Minho reassured the teacher again.

“And I would guess that was the reason of her occasional daydreaming…” Mr. Murphy sighed.

“What do you mean?” Minho quirked his brows.

“You see… Kira sometimes space out in class, just stare at a spot, usually out of the window at the sky,” he waved one of his hands to the general direction of the sky while explaining, “it’s a small distraction though, but I always wonder why she does that, guess now I know why…”

Minho absorbed the information in and figured out what the teacher was implying. He sighed, and the teacher nodded his head towards Minho’s back. Minho twisted around to look at his daughter who was sitting on a chair staring outside the window at the sky with a dreamy look in her eyes. He faced the teacher once more who now have an emphatic frown on his face.

“Time would heal her, Mr. Park… I assure you that,” Mr. Murphy patted the back of Minho’s hand. That was a pretty weird gesture, but Minho just filed it as a friendly one.

“Yeah, I know…” Minho gave the teacher a reassuring small smile, “I guess she just misses her Mama, huh…?”

“Sorry for your loss, Mr. Park.”

“Thank you,” Minho gave a small head bow, “and there’s nothing else to talk about?”

“Oh, yeah!” the teacher perked up, “as this is the first parent-teacher conference you attended, being first grade and all, we need your contact number,” he took another file next to the stack and flipped a few pages.

“Please fill your contact number here, for emergency’s sake,” the teacher gave Minho a pen and pointed at an empty spot under the column ‘Emergency Contact Number’ and the row ‘Kira Park’.

Minho wrote his phone number down as the pen dragged along on the paper creating a scribbling noise. “There,” he slid the file back to the teacher.

“Thank you, Mr. Park,” they both stood up at the same time as the teacher shove his hand forward once more, “it’s nice meeting you, Kira is so lucky to have you as her father.”

“Thank you too,” shaking the teacher’s hand firmly, “for looking out for my daughter.”

And the smile on the brunette’s face brightened once more, like a star sparkling in the dark night. Minho thought that the teacher’s smile was contagious as unconsciously the side of his lips started to arc upwards too, that by smiling the world would be a better place, because by taking in the sight of the brunette’s smile and twinkling brown eyes, Minho could feel himself becoming happier as the pace of his heartbeat quicken a pace.

“No problem, Mr. Park, sayonara,” Mr. Murphy let go Minho’s hand, and Minho’s palm felt weirdly empty.

“That’s actually Japanese, Mr. Murphy,” Minho laughed when suddenly the color red started fill the brunette from the neck above.

“Oh my,” Mr. Murphy immediately covered his now red face with one of his palms, “this is so humiliating!”

Minho chuckled as he started walking backwards to where his daughter was. “Annyeonghi kyeseyo,” Minho waved his hand as the other landed on Kira’s shoulder who was already standing up waiting for her father.

“G-goodbye,” Mr. Murphy let out a nervous laugh, his face still obviously flustered, but that smile, that one unique smile tugged his lips as Minho and Kira headed for the exit.

“Bye, Mr. Murphy!” Kira shouted across the room, waving her hand up high. The teacher waved back.

Minho opened the door and left with Kira. The image of doe-like brown eyes and a charming smile replayed itself in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :3  
> Leave a comment if ya want to.  
> See ya <3


	3. Chapter 3

Minho and Kira stepped out of the classroom, they walked towards Newt and his family.

“You look bloody cheerful,” Newt commented as he stood up from his chair, he still look annoyed while Alby and Mason had nervous grins on their faces.

“Let’s just say Kira is one smart gal,” Minho patted Kira’s head softly, a smile tugged his lips. Kira giggled softly.

“Yeah, Mason’s smart too,” Newt sent a glare to Alby and Mason, “smart enough to write a bloody poem to some girl he like.”

“C’mon, Newt,” Alby threw one arm around Newt’s shoulder, “I did the same for you, didn’t I?” he pouted for extra effect as he rested his head on Newt’s shoulder.

“Slim it, Alby,” Newt’s glare hardened as he shuffled away from the overly cuddly Alby, “I can’t believe you wrote that either!” Newt rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Hey! It was a masterpiece!” Alby retorted, “It got me you, didn’t it?” he grinned, pearl white teeth shining as eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Wait! Paps wrote a poem to Dad?!” Mason asked, eyes widened in curiosity, “Can I see it?!”

“NO!” Newt roared, face starting to turn red, “And it wasn’t the bloody poem that did the job!” Newt scoffed, stomping away to their car, ending the conversation. Minho could hear Newt mumbling, “Bloody father and their bloody child…”

Minho and Kira who were containing their laughter finally laughed out loud when Newt was far enough. “Oh man, Alby,” Minho clutched his stomach with both arms, “Mason sure is your son huh?” he sniggered with a wide grin on his face.

“He sure is,” Alby chuckled fondly, “c’mon let’s go, or your Dad will be even more pissed off than he is now.” He tugged Mason along to where they parked the car, “I’ll show you the poem, kid, I’ll even tell you how your Dad reacted.”

“Let’s go, Kira,” they turned to the direction of their car and they took off.

“They’re funny,” Kira commented with a small smile as she wiped tears of laughter off her face.

“I know,” Minho grinned. The same old couple he always knew. _They never change._ He thought as he shook his head fondly.

* * *

They drove towards the restaurant where they’ll meet Newt and his family. They planned to have lunch together since last night.

“Hey, Papa?” Kira perked as if remembering something.

“Yeah, baby girl?”

“Why did you use that goodbye to Mr. Murphy instead of the normal one?” she tilted her head curiously.

Minho thought about it. Why did he use the sad goodbye instead of the normal goodbye? It just naturally came out of his lips. As if he didn’t want to part from the brunette. Suddenly the image of the teacher’s smile surfaced in his mind. What made the teacher so unforgettable? His mind spun for answers but he found none. A distant honking brought him back from his thoughts.

“I have no idea…” Minho admitted.

Kira nodded understandingly, “Mr. Murphy is a great person, a lot of people like him.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Minho hummed in answer, he agreed to that indeed. No wonder Kira liked him too.

After finding a parking spot, they stepped into Frypan’s Diner. One of their usual hangouts.

“Hey, Teresa,” Minho greeted the waitress who worked there.

“Hello, Minho,” she smiled in greeting, “Kira.”

“Hi, Aunt Teresa.”

“They’re right there,” Teresa pointed at one of the booths where a tuff of blonde hair and a bald head could be seen over the tall sofa-chairs.

“Alright, thanks Teresa.”

“No problem,” Teresa mumbled as she went to attend another table.

They slid into the comfy chairs, opposite of Newt, Alby and Mason. Their seats were against the window, pedestrians walked along the pathway as the noon sunlight beat down on them, wearing comfy casual wears on a fine weekend.

“The teacher seems like a pretty nice guy,” Alby closed the menu before pushing it to Minho.

“Who? Mr. Murphy?” Minho asked as he quirked his brow, letting Kira skim through the menu.

“Yeah, he looks pretty cute too—Owh!” Alby nursed his side where Newt jabbed hard, “Hey, that hurts!”

“Good,” Newt said with an eye-roll, “what Alby is saying, he’s glad Mr. Murphy is Mason and Kira’s class teacher, he seems great at his job.”

Minho nodded his head approvingly. His mind carried back to when the private talk he had with the teacher, it was obvious that Mr. Murphy cared for his students a lot. If the teacher didn’t mention about it, he might still naively think that Kira wouldn’t experience a deep emotional cut from losing her mother. Minho thought that he need a chat with Kira about it soon, he noted it to the back of his mind.

He also admitted that the teacher was pretty good-looking too, _cute_ like Alby had mentioned. Alby and Newt knew he played for both teams, it was after meeting Kira’s mother, he stopped looking at other people, fully committed to his relationship with her. But now she’s gone—

“You guys ready to order?” Aris, another waiter came and took their orders, interrupting his thought. Another conversation sparked soon after, and their orders also came.

“Cheers,” Newt raised his glass, “to Mason and Kira’s good results.”

“Cheers!”

Minho drank his fizzy beverage and let out a satisfying burp. The rest of lunch went pretty fast with Aris and Teresa alternating to ask whether they were fine. Minho decided not to continue that thought.

* * *

Mason and Kira cheered loudly as they dashed through the entrance. Minho, Newt, and Alby followed close behind after they let the workers scan their tickets. “Have fun!” the female worker smiled brightly.

“Mason, Kira, wait for us!” Newt hollered at the two kids.

Minho stepped through the entrance after thanking the worker. He took in the sight in front of him. Rollercoaster roared loudly above him accompanied by shrieks of people riding them. Playful tune played by each of the game available, kiosks workers smiled brightly as they attended the customers who wanted to buy a cooling beverage. An occasional cumulative shout filled the air as dozens of people rocketed towards the sky on the Gyro Tower. Striding along the walkway behind Newt who went to chase after the two kids, colors filled Minho’s sight, balloons, banners, plants, all emitted striking bright colors, indulging everyone in a cheerful mood.

Because that was what it does, to let people have fun. A theme park.

All five of them went on rides together. Rollercoaster, Ferris Wheel, even the Haunted House. Let’s just say that Newt’s scream was louder than Kira’s. Newt had to take a break for a while after scaring half of his soul away. Minho volunteered to accompany Newt on one of the benches by the walkway while Alby followed Mason and Kira on their continuous adventure.

Minho took a sip of his beverage, eyes fixated on Kira and Mason who shared a Bumper car with Kira on the wheels. Minho looked over to Newt sitting next to him as Newt wiped cold sweat off his forehead. “I will never get what’s fun on being scared shitless,” Newt muttered, one of the rare times they cursed while the kids were away.

 “The thrills, Newt, remember the times we had fun when we were younger?” Minho chuckled with grin, throwing his arm across the back of the bench.

“You mean the times when we almost got caught and possibly get expelled from school?” Newt stared at Minho deadpanned, clearly unamused.

Minho nodded with a smile, “Great times, Newt, great times,” then he gestured towards the pool of Bumper cars with a tilt of his chin, “looks like Alby still live in that time too.” Newt glanced over, Alby was clearly having tons of fun bumping into the kids’ Bumper car as he drove solo one of his own.

“Oh he and I still have _fun_ , no doubt about that,” Newt smirked at Minho.

It took a second for Minho what Newt was implying before he groaned, “Newt… Too much info man!” he shook his head disapprovingly, “Won’t you wake Mason up?”

Before Newt could answer with that grin plastered on his face, Minho held his hand up, “No I don’t wanna hear the answer.”

Newt chuckled as he laid his sight once more on the Bumper car pool. Minho sighed after taking another sip of his drink, he laid further back onto the bench as he glanced up to the sky. It was pretty cloudy so the heat wasn’t so bad, probably a storm coming in in a few hours when he saw a bunch of clouds clumping together a few miles away from the city. A distant shout could be heard from within the Haunted House, children running around with parents chasing after them. Bumper cars crashes muffled by the elastic rubber surrounding each car.

“You know, Newt?” Minho still kept his vision upwards.

Newt hummed. Minho wanted to talk about his private talk with Mr. Murphy with Newt, he usually ask Newt for motherly advice, so he wanted to ask for Newt’s opinion about this too.

“Mr. Murphy said something about Kira…” 

“What about her?” Minho could hear a slight interest in the accented voice, he paused for a while to finalize the decision in nose-diving into this topic.

“It’s about her mother…”

As expected, Minho felt Newt tensed next to him, couple seconds later he heard another answering hum. Minho finally moved his glance away from the sky to Newt who was staring at him with caution inside the brown eyes. Minho took another sip of his drink before his continued, reciting what the teacher told him with Newt nodding once in a while.

“… so what do you think?” Minho hold his gaze with Newt.

Newt stared at Minho a moment, but obviously he was deep in his thoughts. Newt blinked his eyes, letting out a cough, “I think… Kira lacks another person in her life…”

“What do you mean?” Minho frowned, not getting Newt’s point.

“Clearly you done a great job as her father, but she still needs another person she can look up to when ya can’t,” Newt bit his lip, as if hoping his opinion didn’t come out somewhat offensive.

A gentle wind breezed through as Minho sighed, bowing his head down, “What am I supposed to do then?” tilting his head back at to Newt, but he could see hopelessness in his friend’s eyes.

Newt reached out one hand to pat Minho’s shoulder comfortingly before holding onto it, “Like I said, Minho, you gotta let her go first, then Kira will…” Newt’s eyes darted towards Minho’s hand that was holding the cup, condensed water from the cold beverage moistened the ring, "then maybe... you can let someone else in..." Newt gazed directly into Minho's eyes, showing that he meant what he said. 

“That was fun!” Kira suddenly chirped next to them. Minho didn’t realized they already finished the Bumper car ride. Newt’s hand slid off Minho as he put on a smile to the kids and Alby, “So what’s next?” Newt arched his brows. A loud grumbling came from Alby’s stomach answered for them. “Dinner it is,” Newt glanced at the sheepish Alby who was rubbing at his stomach.

They left the theme park with Minho’s mind wrapping around Newt’s advice about someone filling into Kira’s life, into _their_ life, and strangely, he thought about the brown-haired teacher too.


End file.
